Mercy For Animals Calls On Lilydale's Parent Company, Sofina Foods, to Change Slaughter Practices After Secret Video Documents Turkeys Shackled, Shocked, Cut Open, and Scalded Alive

TORONTO, Oct. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - Lilydale, one of the largest poultry companies in Canada, is in hot water over new hidden-camera video footage showing turkeys violently shackled upside down, painfully shocked with electrified water, cut open while still conscious, and scalded alive at the slaughterhouse. Now, Mercy For Animals is demanding Lilydale's parent company, Sofina Foods, take immediate action by adopting meaningful animal welfare policies to address the extreme animal abuse documented.

Mercy For Animals will host a tele-press conference at 10 a.m. EST at 877-256-5211. Please call in by 9:50 a.m. 

The undercover video was taken at the Lilydale slaughterhouse in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Sofina Foods is based in Markham, Ontario. Lilydale is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sofina Foods.

The graphic footage shows the following:

• Turkeys scalded alive in hot water tanks and birds having their throats cut open and heads ripped off
• Workers yanking turkeys out of crates and violently shackling them upside down on the slaughter line
• Severely sick and injured birds sent through the slaughter line for human consumption
• Frightened birds painfully shocked in an electrified vat of water but still conscious and able to feel pain

Mercy For Animals is calling on Sofina Foods to follow the lead of Maple Leaf Foods, the largest meat producer in Canada, in pledging to implement a series of meaningful animal welfare policies to end the worst forms of animal abuse in its supply chain. Specifically, Mercy For Animals is urging the company to replace its cruel live-shackle slaughter system with less cruel controlled-atmosphere-stunning systems that eliminate the horrific suffering caused by shackling, shocking, cutting open, and scalding conscious animals.

"Lilydale is literally torturing turkeys to death," said Krista Hiddema, vice president with Mercy For Animals in Canada. "Before they land on Canadian dinner plates, Lilydale turkeys are painfully shackled, shocked, sliced open, and even immersed in vats of scalding water—all while still alive and able to feel pain. This is sickening animal abuse no company with morals should support."

To view the hidden-camera video, please visit LilydaleTurkeyTorture.ca.

SOURCE Mercy For Animals